“It’s only 12:30. You have plenty of daylight left.” Mr. Martin frowns and adds, “And I’m certainly not dragging you three around on the boat for all of it.”
I swear all three of us deflate a little at his comment, but Andrew quickly recovers, bringing the excitement back. “I call middle!”
“What? No! You always get the middle, and you never get thrown off. I want the middle this time,” I insist.
As much as I enjoy tubing, it’s even more fun when I’msafely flinging from side to side in the middle seat of the tube, where I know I won’t be flung into the cruel water. Falling off is never too bad, but the anticipation of it still fills me with dread.
Andrew violently shakes his head. “I have to be in the middle. It just makes sense. You and Rebecca are much closer in weight than Rebecca and me.”
Rebecca decides to chime in. I can always count on her for support. “Oh, please! Do you really think ten pounds is going to make that much of a difference? No. Be a gentleman and let Emma sit in the middle for once.”
“It might make a difference when we are suspended six feet above the water. I’m just looking out for the safety of you two girls. I know how scared you can be on the tube.”
Mr. Martin laughs a little at his son. I’ve noted over the past couple of years that he seems to relate to Andrew. I have a feeling young Mr. Martin was the same witty little daredevil Andrew is now.
“Okay, you three, let’s go. If Emma wants the middle, let her have it this time. The difference in weight won’t matter that much. Plus, it will give you a chance to show off your bravery,” Mr. Martin raises his eyebrows at Andrew, clearly using his ego to convince him.
I watch Andrew’s eyes light up at the prospect of showing us all how brave he is. “You can take the middle, Em.”
The three of us gleefully toss the tube into the water and leap on as Mr. Martin starts up the boat and begins slowly pulling away from the dock. We watch the boat get further and further away until the rope is pulled taut and begins tugging us along at a snail’s pace.
“Hit it, Dad!” Andrew shouts, indicating he’s ready to get going.
Mr. Martin picks up speed, and we get whipped forward. As we zoom across the lake, I can’t help but take a moment to enjoy the wind swirling in my face, sitting in the comfortand safety of the middle seat, with my two favorite people on either side of me.
Mr. Martin begins zig zagging, throwing us in and out of the wake. This is where it gets fun.
“Hey Andrew!” Rebecca shouts, leaning forward to peer past me and over to her brother. “I bet I can stay on longer than you.”
I groan.Oh no.This is going to end in a blood bath. Any time one of the twins challenges the other, they always go way too far.
“You’resoon!” Andrew grins. He holds his pointer finger up and begins circling it around, indicating to his dad we want him to do donuts.
“You guys are so stupid! Why does everything have to be a competition?” I holler over the wind whipping in our ears and the sound of the boat’s motor barking loudly.
Andrew glares over at Rebecca accusingly. “She’s the one who suggested a competition. I’m just trying to end it quickly for us.”
When we are situated in the middle of the lake, Mr. Martin cranks the wheel hard, and we begin forming a circle. We shoot out of the wake on Rebecca’s side, but other than that, the ride is still smooth. When the boat completes the loop, and we follow behind, massive waves threaten to throw us off into the merciless lake. We bounce up into the air and crash hard down on top of another wave.
I smile a little as I note Mr. Tough Guy white-knuckling his handles. Rebecca laughs and does the donut signal again to her dad. This time he turns the other way, causing us to fly out of the wake on Andrew’s side. He leans in toward me, trying to keep from flinging over the little barrier on the edge of the tube that does very little to hold him in when we are catapulting to his side this quickly. Despite the cold water keeping us cool with its insistent mist, I can feel the warmth of Andrew’s shoulder as it touches mine.
Then the waves hit, and we bounce from one wave to the next. I hold my breath as we shoot into the air in what feels like slow motion.
Rebecca is laughing with complete glee as we launch off the next bump and soar through the air.
We land and get a moment of peace, but then I see it. The mother of all waves. She’s hurtling toward us with an evil smile. “Oh crap!” the twins shout together, making me burst into a fit of laughter.
We hit the wave, and the tube instantly goes vertical, tilting us so that our backs are to the water. We rocket into the air, and I’m certain we are at least five feet above the water now. Andrew’s eyes go wide with horror, and Rebecca’s calm demeanor from earlier is gone. Our butts lift completely off the tube, as we all try desperately to cling onto the handles below us. I watch Rebecca and Andrew both disappear with a splash before I return to the water, still on the tube.
Mr. Martin quickly slows the boat as my dad raises the orange flag indicating to other boaters that there are people in the water.
When we circle back to pick up the twins, the two are bickering over who let go first and whether it matters who came off the tube first or who hit the water first. They immediately whip their heads around to me, looking for me to make a judgment call on the matter.
“Who let go first? It was Rebecca, wasn’t it?”
“No, it wasn’t, and even if I did let go first, I heard you hit the water before I was in, so you fell first.”
“Tell her she’s wrong, and she lost.”
